


Le Jeu est en Marche

by spectrawaves



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Banter, Christmas Party, F/M, Mistletoe shenanigans, draco and hermiones constant need to one up each other, harry and theo are engaged, im just self indulgent, is it banter if they barely talk to each other?, its t rated so its technically unresolved, so much of it, theres sexual tension, they also play never have i ever but its not all that relevant to the story, tis the damn season
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:47:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28115658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spectrawaves/pseuds/spectrawaves
Summary: There's a sprig of mistletoe hanging in the kitchen doorway.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 71





	Le Jeu est en Marche

**Author's Note:**

> Le Jeu est en Marche translates to 'the game is afoot' (mostly)
> 
> also I wrote this as a christmas present but you guys can read it too. this is my first posted hp fic how fun is that. i'm delighted that it's this one. i really threw some rare pairs in here just for Fun and Flavor
> 
> anyway hope you guys like it!

Maybe it's because they're both stubborn. And competitive. And just as desperate to one-up each other as they’d been in school. 

Maybe it's the fire whiskey. 

Draco can't say for sure, but the sprig of mistletoe hanging in the doorway to Potter and Theo's shitty kitchen is too tempting to ignore. 

It had been unspoken, this competition between him and Granger. They'd both taken one look at it, glanced at each other, and suddenly the game was afoot.

They're both too unwilling to back down from the challenge, so while the easiest thing to do would be to avoid the kitchen altogether, they both come up with multiple excuses to pass under the catalyst of this whole endeavor. Like a dare to the other. 

Granger goes first, gliding under it and into the kitchen to get some water, or so she says. Draco, in his group of Slytherins--and one Ravenclaw--on the other side of the apartment, turns to Theo to ask if he has any other drinks. Theo barely looks at him before telling him to look for himself. Draco grins and says, "But you've been such a _gracious_ host so far, I'd hate to see the beginnings of such a good reputation ruined." 

Theo rolls his eyes and hands his drink to Pansy, who frowns at the both of them. Draco grins behind his glass of fire whiskey. 

But he looks back up to watch the doorway, only to find Granger leaning against the wall, tantalizingly close to the mistletoe as Theo passes under it, but certainly not close enough to warrant a kiss. She smirks at Draco and raises her drink to him. 

He schools his expression into one of complete boredom and shrugs. He can't allow her to think he'd been thwarted. 

Theo comes back with a bottle of pumpkin juice, certainly just to annoy Draco, and Draco grins at him. 

"Why thank you, Theodore." Draco says with a slight incline of his head.

"Stick it up your arse, Draco." Theo says blankly before handing it over and retrieving his drink from Pansy. 

Draco waits, at least twenty minutes, before taking his empty glass and his still-full pumpkin juice into the kitchen. He gets a cheap little thrill as he passes Granger's group and catches her eye while he's so clearly headed into the kitchen. She barely looks his way and he has to bite back a grin. 

He's sorely tempted to stay in the kitchen and simply wait for her target to arrive--and truthfully he takes more time than necessary to wash out his glass and recover another from the cabinet to pour his pumpkin juice into--but he's not a coward. He won't simply wait for a clear opening when he could faithfully participate in the game. It's simple sportsmanship, and Draco is above cheating. 

He wants to win by merit alone. 

When he turns to exit the kitchen, he catches sight of Granger talking to Weasley--the tall one, not his far less entertaining, slug-eating younger brother--and he smirks. He's so far in the clear it's hardly fair. 

Then right as he passes through the door, he barely misses passing under beside Marcus.

He almost coughs a laugh. If it had worked, he'd probably have Wood _and_ Millie on his arse for it. Which would have undoubtedly been quite entertaining for Granger. 

Shame it hadn't worked, then. 

He inclines his head to her before taking a sip of his pumpkin juice. Granger's brow quirks. 

It takes three rounds of exploding snap and the suggestion to play Never Have I Ever for Granger to make her way into the kitchen again. 

Draco turns to Padme sitting next to him in the circle gearing up to play the most juvenile drinking game Draco can think of, and _suggests_ that she might need more to drink than what she currently has in her cup if she wants to stay in the game for longer than a few _never have I evers._ She smirks at him and says, "Interesting theory, Malfoy." But she gets up and goes to the kitchen anyways. 

Granger is just seconds too early and Padme is seconds too slow. 

He scowls when Granger grins at him. 

When it's his turn to come up with something to say for Never Have I Ever, he says, "Never have I ever suffocated those around me with unresolved sexual tension." 

Pansy laughs. It's really more of a cackle, actually. 

"That is a bald-faced _lie,_ Draco Malfoy." She insists and Draco raises an eyebrow at her. 

"Is that so, Parkinson?" He asks pointedly, "And you don't know of any other guilty parties?" 

She raises her hands in surrender and takes a drink. Ginny Weasley also drinks--surprisingly, Draco will have to investigate further later--along with Blaise, Marcus, Wood, and Millie. Draco grins. 

"Now you." Pansy insists, and Draco drinks, mostly to shut her up than because he thinks he's guilty. Perhaps she means the latter years of school when he'd been unwilling to admit to his preferences. 

Potter elbows Granger and she rolls her eyes in that particularly swotty way she has before drinking. Yet another investigation he's now going to have to mount. 

Granger also drinks for _never have I ever fucked at work--_ which has Draco meeting her eyes and giving her an incredulous look. Uptight, goody-two-shoes Granger, fucking anywhere but a bed in anything other than missionary? Unlikely. Potter gets her again with _never have I ever shown up to class still drunk._ That one comes as less of a surprise; eighth year had had its ups and its downs for everyone who'd returned to Hogwarts. 

Theo gets Draco with _never have I ever snogged Astoria Greengrass in a broom cupboard,_ which is so particularly pointed he rolls his eyes. But then Parvati Patil turns red and takes a drink to a chorus of exclamations of delight and incredulity. Astoria winks at her. Draco laughs. 

Other notable instances include when Weasley--the slug-eating one this time--drinks at _never have I ever gotten out of disciplinary action by pulling the 'I saved the world' card,_ which unsurprisingly does not get the other two thirds of the golden trio; and when almost everyone in the circle drinks for _never have I ever fantasized about Harry Potter._ Potter turns a rather alarming shade of red and ducks his head while Theo pats his knee comfortingly. 

"You play Quidditch, darling." Theo says by way of explanation and Draco raises his glass to Theo. Half the Slytherin team had been confusedly staring at Potter in the locker rooms from fifth year on, Draco included. 

Then half the circle drinks with _never have I ever used magic for sexual gratification_ and Draco stares as Granger takes an _excessively_ long drink. She winks when she catches him and he gives her an impressed look. _Alright, Granger._

They break apart to refill drinks or pick at the food sitting under stasis charms on the dining room table. Pansy and Blaise get caught in the kitchen doorway and far too passionately make out against the door jamb before breaking apart. 

"Well now I have to get a new wall." Theo says flatly and Pansy affectionately pats his cheek. 

"As if you and Potter haven't christened every inch of this apartment." Blaise drawls and Potter again turns an incriminating red. 

_"We_ live here." Theo points out and Blaise shrugs. 

The mistletoe also gets Luna and Potter, which results in the gayest, most sexless kiss Draco's ever seen. 

Draco times his entrance into the kitchen well so he won't get caught either by accident or by Granger's manipulation. 

He just barely manages it, but then, so does Granger. Draco glares at her while she flips her hair over one shoulder, smirking. 

Draco can't remember a time when he'd wanted to win something more. 

The night drags on with multiple unsuccessful attempts to get each other under the mistletoe, and Draco's starting to get restless. 

He's hardly going to _leave_ before he wins, but he steadfastly refuses to stoop to cheap plays. 

Granger almost gets him with Longbottom, it's bare _centimeters_ that save him. Granger scowls, but she doesn't try to weasel him into succumbing. It's poor form and they both know it. They want to win because they've _won._

Pansy and Luna leave the party followed by Daphne and Astoria, and Draco gets desperate. 

He's going to have to settle for any option at all rather than seeking out those Granger would least like to be forced to kiss. 

It seems like Granger is in the same boat when, following his attempt with Wood that had embarrassingly failed with space to spare, she sends Blaise to the kitchen just as Draco's heading in. They miss each other, but Draco just barely manages not to change his pace on his way in. 

Draco's running out of ideas and excuses. 

Worse than that, it seems like a few of the party attendees have wisened to their game. 

It's looking bleak when Granger brazenly _leans in the doorway,_ like a _dare,_ and when she looks over at him and winks, he snaps. 

"Potter, for the love of _Merlin,_ would you go in there and kiss Granger?" He says to Potter, a hand on his shoulder and Potter just blinks owlishly up at him. "Oh good bloody _bollocks, fine!"_

He meets Granger under the mistletoe. 

"Do you yield?" She asks him, the first thing she’s said to him all night. 

“Hardly.” He says. “You?” 

“You wish.” She says and he smirks. 

Draco leans down, puts himself in her space, takes up the entire doorway. He looks her in the eye--her eyes have little flecks of gold this close up--and deliberately touches his tongue to his bottom lip. Her eyes drop to it. 

“Are you sure, _Hermione?”_ He murmurs, and revels in the shade of pink her cheeks slowly turn. 

If he can convince her to kiss _him,_ he wins. 

He almost closes the distance between them. His lips are enticingly close to hers, almost brushing against them when he speaks, but he waits for her to come to him. And he’s always been an exceedingly patient man. 

“Kiss me, Hermione.” He whispers. She draws in a sharp breath, her eyes going half lidded. “I promise I’ll make it a good one.” It’s the least he can do, considering it will be the reason she’ll lose. 

Her eyes flick up to his and he _see_ the moment she yields. 

“You better.” She says softly before she closes the distance, her arms winding their way around his neck. 

And he _does;_ he kisses Hermione Granger like a woman like her deserves to be kissed. His lips move against her languidly, the kiss warm and heavy and lazy until she gets her hands in his hair. 

Then his hands grip her waist and he pushes her against the door jamb so he can line himself up against her and force her head back. He’s so much taller than her and the long line of her throat is bared to him and if he weren’t losing himself in her lips he’d chart the whole of it with lips and teeth and tongue until she _melts_ beneath him _._ Her fingers land on his chest and slide down to hook themselves in his belt loops, pulling his hips against hers and his breath leaves him in a rush. 

And then he’s _drowning_ in her. Her hands and the warmth of her body and the feeling of his fingers tangled in her hair consume him. His blood is rushing in his ears and his hands are _shaking_ and he waits until the absolute last moment to break away, the need for air too insistent to ignore. 

Hermione’s eyes flutter open and she looks like _heaven_ with her hair mussed from his fingers and her lips red from kissing him and her breaths heaving against his chest where he’s still pressed against her. 

Merlin, he feels like he might pass out. 

“Okay.” Hermione breathes, “You win.” 

“Yes,” Draco agrees, “I did.”

**Author's Note:**

> toss me a heart in the comments it will make mine go ✨❤️✨  
> merry fucking christmas one and all


End file.
